A group of Miami men who plotted to blow up the Sears Tower face federal sentencing on Sept. 7, 2009, despite an admission from federal authorities that the men were so incompetent that the plan had little chance of ever reaching fruition. Here is TIME's list of the top 10 terrorism-plot failures

Fort Dix Plotters

By Dan FletcherTuesday, Sept. 08, 2009

Thomas Cain / Getty

Five men's scheme to attack the U.S. military installation at Fort Dix, N.J., in 2006 had all the makings of a chilling terrorist plot. The men planned to overrun the base, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. They spent months training in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, documenting their exploits on camera while videotaping their calls for jihad. It's no surprise, then, that when the group dropped off the tape to be copied, the store clerk had a few questions. And so did the FBI, after the clerk turned the group in. The feds infiltrated the group and gathered enough information to convict the five plotters on charges of conspiring to murder members of the U.S. military. Four were sentenced to life in prison; the fifth received a 33-year term.